The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €100 million financing deal with Belgium wastewater operator, Aquafin.
The operation is the second part of a €200 million facility agreed in December 2014 and is the ninth operation with this counterpart.
The funds will be used for the construction of collectors, solving bottlenecks in the existing sewage infrastructure, separating stray water and rain water from the sewage network, as well as the construction of new and upgrading of existing treatment facilities.
The Flemish Region continues to invest in the expansion and optimisation of the inter-municipal infrastructure for wastewater treatment.
Pim van Ballekom, VP of the EIB, said: “Even since her founding in 1990 Aquafin has managed to raise the percentage of water being treated from 30% to over 80% and the investment we're doing today is a tangible implication of the European and Belgian priorities for man and nature."
Luc Bossyns, managing director of Aquafin, added: “In 2015 the Flemish Region heightened the budget within the “local pact” framework by €150 million, spread out over five years. As of the next programming year we will therefore receive another €130 million worth of this kind of projects for a five-year period.
“To meet these goals we find institutional investors who are willing to invest in our projects, but half of our financing needs is still being met by the EIB, which means that this new €100 million operation is extremely important for Aquafin as well as for Flanders.”
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